Press Releases

CRANSTON, R.I. – May 9, 2008 – Writer, poet, and teacher, Jimmy Santiago Baca, featured in a September 30, 2002 People Magazine profile titled From Jail to Yale, will offer a poetry and writing workshop to a small group of Rhode Island Department of Corrections inmates at the John J. Moran Medium Security Facility, from 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13th.

Mr. Baca’s poetry has won numerous national and international awards, and in 2003 he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of New Mexico. He has taught writing through the country, in institutions ranging from universities like Yale and Berkeley, to prisons. His teachings have impacted people from professional writers to illiterate youth.

In 2005, he created Cedar Tree, a foundation dedicated to helping the under-educated find their voices through writing. Through Cedar Tree, Jimmy Baca brings literacy and writing workshops to at-risk youth, incarcerated men and women, and their families and communities.
“Giving offenders an outlet to express anger, fear, sorrow, and the torrent of emotions many face is actually a wise form of institutional management,” notes the RIDOC’s Assistant Director of Rehabilitative Services Roberta Richman. “Allowing people to express emotions through the arts reduces the likelihood that they will channel those emotions in inappropriate ways and become discipline problems.”

Mr. Baca will be in Rhode Island May 13th – 14th and has a number of public appearances scheduled. For information on his itinerary, contact Emily Lisker at (401) 769-0555.

Additional information about Mr. Baca can be found at his website: www.jimmysantiagobaca.com, or the site of his non-profit literacy organization, Cedar Tree www.cedartreeinc.org.

Press interested in covering Mr. Baca’s ACI workshop must contact Tracey Z. Poole, Chief of Information and Public Relations at (401) 462-2609 to arrange for clearance.